


Doctor Giddygaddy

by Elennare



Category: Little Women Series - Louisa May Alcott
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2018-12-18
Packaged: 2019-09-21 09:25:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17041133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elennare/pseuds/Elennare
Summary: Nan and her patients, through the years.





	Doctor Giddygaddy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Beth Harker (Beth_Harker)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beth_Harker/gifts).



> For Beth Harker - I hope you like it!
> 
> Many thanks to my wonderful beta :)

“Nan! Nan! Oh, here you are! I’ve been looking everywhere! Come quick!”

“Hullo, Demi! What’s the matter?” Nan asked,as she began to swing herself down from the willow tree where she had been sitting, wondering what could have upset the usually calm boy so much.

“It’s Daisy, she’s scalded her hand on her stove. Aunt Jo and Uncle Fritz aren’t back yet, and I didn’t know what to do, but I was sure you would.”

Nan nodded and dropped to the ground next to him. “The first thing to do is to run cold water over it - She already is? Good! Then I have some herbs that will help. You run and help her to wash it well while I go to the garrett, and I’ll meet you in the nursery!”

Barely waiting for Demi’s agreement, she raced off, outdistancing him easily. As she ran, she was also going through her medicines in her mind, doing her best to remember all Professor Bhaer had taught her about burns last winter, after Tommy had somehow managed to scorch his leg with a hot poker. Marigolds and witch-hazel to rinse the area, perhaps comfrey to make a poultice? But that would be better later on, there was something else she was forgetting… oh! Honey! Honey was good for burns! Reaching the house at last, she detoured to the kitchen to commandeer some - luckily, Asia was nowhere to be seen, or there would doubtless have been explanations to delay her - then shot upstairs to gather her materials.

With everything ready, she rushed back downstairs, sliding down the bannisters for greater speed. When she reached the nursery, she found Daisy tearful from the pain, and Demi still looking rather frantic.

“Whatever were you doing?” Nan demanded, surveying the reddened hand Daisy held out with interest - and a little trepidation. Bruises and bangs were all part of a day’s work to her, and she sacrificed so many handkerchiefs to bandaging scrapes she often found herself condemned to spending an afternoon sewing more, when Mrs Jo realized she was down to her last! But burns were rather outside her experience, even accident-prone Tommy having managed to avoid them save for the incident the previous winter.

“I was making flapjacks, and I slipped and caught the kettle with the back of my hand,” Daisy explained.

“It’s all my fault, I shouldn’t have asked you to make them,” Demi said remorsefully, putting an arm around his twin’s shoulders.

“No it’s not! I wanted them too, especially since we couldn’t go to see Mother and Baby Josie after all,” Daisy replied.

“Well, never mind now whose fault it is!” Nan, who had been mixing up ground marigolds and hazel bark with warm water, intervened. Daisy had been upset all day at missing out on the visit home after Josie developed a mysterious rash, and Nan didn’t want her to start crying again.

“Let me rinse it with this, then I’ll put some honey on it.”

“Why honey?” Demi wanted to know, with his usual insatiable curiosity.

“It’s soothing, and it helps the skin to heal faster,” Nan explained as she gently rinsed Daisy’s hand with her herb mixture and patted it dry, noting with a frown that it was beginning to blister. She’d hoped the cold water would prevent that. Carefully, she spread the honey, making sure to cover the entire area.

“There, that should do for now. I don’t like to bandage it, Professor Bhaer said to be very careful with burns because it can stick to the skin, so I’d rather wait until he can show me how. You’ll just have to be careful not to touch anything!”

“But what about tea?” Daisy asked.

“I can manage it,” Nan declared airily. “You sit down and don’t fuss, that’s the doctor’s orders!”

“Do as Doctor Giddygaddy says,” Demi told his twin with a faint smile, seeing she looked inclined to protest. “I’ll help with the tea.”

Daisy conceded as far as sitting down went - between the shock and the still-smarting hand, she was quietly glad to. But she refused to let either of them attempt flapjacks, insisting that toast was far more in line with their skills, and the cooks were forced to concede. It was rather a let-down, to be sure; but the jar of honey came in useful once more, and they made a good meal, even if some slices had to be scraped to get rid of the most charred parts, and the tea was more than a little over-brewed.

******

“They’re coming! Ready, Nan?” Tommy asked as he jumped down from the window where he had been keeping watch over the path that led to Plumfield, where the Bhaers were hosting a dance for the students of Laurence College and their own old flock.

Nan grinned at him wickedly. “Very! But don’t rush it, we don’t want them to catch on.”

“Don’t want who to catch on to what?” Daisy asked walking into the hall just in time to hear Nan’s words.

She was more than a little surprised to find the pair alone together. While for the most part Nan and Tommy were as good friends as ever , for some time now Nan had strenuously avoided being left alone with him, even going so far as to make hurried exits out of windows! But now here they were, Nan didn’t look as if she were about to run away, and Tommy’s face wore its most mischievous smile, rather than the lovestruck look he was wont to adopt on these occasions.

“We’re going to rag Stuffy and Dolly,” Nan said. “Don’t let on, and do play along if you can!”

“If it’s nothing nasty or unkind,” Daisy said cautiously - the years had taught her never to make rash promises to Nan.

“Of course it isn’t!” Tommy cried indignantly. “It’s to pay them back for being nasty and unkind themselves.”

“We can’t talk about it here, they’ll be at the door in a minute,” Nan interrupted. “Come into the study, do!”

The three ducked into the room, and Nan and Tommy quickly explained. A few days ago, they had been taking a tram with some other medical students, when George and Dolly had got in with a few fellows from their college. One of the college boys had made scornful remarks about women students, and George and Dolly had not only merely laughed, but actually joined in, mocking the idea of taking medical advice from “mere girls”. At the time, the indignant Nan and Tommy had not been able to tell them what they thought, being in a great rush to get to class, but they had decided to get even at a later date - which had now arrived.

Daisy, on hearing everything, agreed to help them. Suddenly the doorbell rang, and they hurried back out to greet the new arrivals. And a most peculiar greeting those superior young gentlemen found! Tom shook hands with a grin that vanished abruptly as he stared at them with sudden intensity. Nan took advantage of the handshakes to retain their hands and professionally take both their pulses, frowning but saying only “Oh, nothing, nothing,” in reply to their questions. Even Daisy put so much emphasis on her polite enquiry as to whether they were both well, that Dolly hurried to a looking-glass at the first opportunity, wondering if he had burst out in spots! But the mirror showed the young dandy nothing out of the ordinary, so - after straightening an already straight tie - he decided to forget the others’ odd behaviour, and advised George to do the same.

That turned out easier said than done, however; throughout the evening, in the pauses between dances, both lads were conscious of an intense scrutiny. Nan and Tom would gather in a corner and talk together in low tones, with much glancing over and shaking of heads; Daisy would seem to ask something of Tom, then look at them anxiously; Nan would approach and stare at them for a few moments, frowning, then turn and hurry off before they could question her.

By the time supper approached, George had had enough. It was one thing to be stared at during dancing, but he wasn’t going to have his meal spoilt by his friends’ apparent fit of insanity! He called Dolly over, and between them they managed to catch Nan and Tom at one of their conferences. The naughty pair, seeing they were trapped, decided it was time to wrap up their joke as they had planned during the week.

“We didn’t want to say anything until we were sure, you see,” Tommy began.

“Sure of what?” George asked.

Nan ignored him, continuing where Tommy had left off. “It’s quite a tricky thing to diagnose and we are only students,but it does look likely.”

“What looks likely?” Dolly snapped, exasperated.

“Well, we can’t be entirely sure just yet,” Tommy said, with his gravest expression. “But if you’ll just come with us for a moment, we should be able to conclude, don’t you think, Nan?”

“Oh, quite,” Nan replied with gravity equal to his. “We’re sorry to take your time up, boys, but it shouldn’t take long. Will you come with us?”

Dolly and George grumbled a little, but finally agreed to join them. Though they tried to look unconcerned, the truth was they were a little worried by their friends’ behaviour (though also more than a little suspicious, knowing Nan and Tom of old). Pulling the lads into a side room, Tommy and Nan subjected them to a bizarre examination - inspecting their tongues and eyes, taking their pulses, demanding they touch their toes. Nan’s genuine frown at poor Stuffy’s struggle to do so nearly gave them away prematurely, for Dolly caught it and looked at her suspiciously. Noticing his expression, however, Nan promptly demanded he cross his arms behind his back, and the struggle to do it without any risk to his clothing diverted his attention.

At last, Tom nodded. “Well, boys, I hate to have put you to all this trouble, but I think we have a diagnosis. If you would, Nan?”

“Yes, I think we can safely say you’re suffering from vanasinusitis,” Nan proclaimed, and the boys goggled at the bizarre Latin name. Speaking quickly, she went on, “Colloquially known as conceited ass disease, symptoms including talking nonsense on trams and - ”

Here, she was interrupted by indignant howls as George and Dolly realised how they’d  been tricked. For a few minutes there was pandemonium as they all talked at once, but eventually Nan and Tommy managed to explain enough of the whys and wherefores of their prank that they ceased to be indignant and became ashamed instead. (It may be said here in their defense, that the opinions they had incautiously aired on the tram were less their true belief than imitations of those of the older chaps whose company they had been flattered to be included in.) So matters ended in an amicable truce, though Nan had the last shot, thanking them - demurely enough, but with a wicked twinkle in her eye - for their willingness to believe a “mere girl”! To which, remembering all the times Doctor Giddygaddy had treated their small aches and pains as children, the boys could find nothing to say; but both vowed inwardly to treat female medical students with more respect from now on.

******

The rattle of a key in the lock roused Nan from her well-earned moments of rest in the big armchair by the fireplace. With a finger to her lips, she leapt up to greet the two men who entered. It was a necessary precaution, since Nat nearly cried out upon seeing her, though he managed to suppress it for the most part to a peculiar squawk.

“Is it - is it -” he asked nervously, and Nan nodded, smiling at him.

“Everything’s well, and you have a daughter.”

Both Nat and his brother-in-law grinned at each other in mingled delight and relief.

“I nearly collapsed when I ran into Demi waiting backstage for me,” said Nat, who had been playing a concert when Demi came to fetch him. “You’re sure everything’s well? It’s rather early, isn’t it?”

“I wouldn’t have said it if I weren’t sure,” Nan retorted. “It is a little early, but she’s a healthy young thing - with a fine pair of lungs!” This last was added as a baby’s howl suddenly split the air. “You may as well come on up and see her and your wife, Nat.”

She turned and ran up the stairs, Nat following behind her, and Demi was left to pace around the room, working off the nervous energy his frantic run to the theater hadn’t dispersed. The bond between twins was as strong as ever, and Demi had been horribly worried from the moment Nan had telephoned to ask him to go and fetch Nat. Even now, despite Nan’s reassurances, he was longing to see his sister. He didn’t have long to wait, however; after a few minutes, Nan reappeared on the staircase and beckoned him to come up. He hurried after her, and was met by Daisy, still rather white and weary but clearly delighted, who called him over to the bed and carefully handed over a well-wrapped bundle.

All four cooed over the baby for a few minutes; then Nan, with an eye to the needs of both the baby and her mother, firmly declared that visiting must end for tonight. Reluctantly handing his niece back to her proud Papa, Demi asked, “What are you going to call her?”

Daisy and Nat looked at each other with twinkling eyes. “We might as well tell them now, don’t you think, dear?” Nat said.

“Yes, we will. She’s to be Margaret Anne, and we want you two to be godparents,” Daisy told them.

For once, Nan the ever-ready had no reply. She stared at Daisy in astonishment while a delighted Demi thanked the new parents. “Me?” she said at last, still staring. “But… what about Josie, or Bess, or Alice?” Demi had been an obvious choice, and with Nat having no family of his own, Nan would have expected the godmother to be chosen from Daisy’s too, if she had given it a thought.

“They’ll have their chance, we hope,” Daisy answered with another smiling look at her husband. “But you’ve been my best friend since we were children, I couldn’t have anyone but you.”

“And the ‘original Plums’ are like family to me, and you’ve been taking such good care of Daisy and the baby all these months,” Nat added. “So what do you say, Aunt Giddygaddy?”

“I say you’re not to teach my goddaughter to call me anything of the sort,” Nan said with a laugh, recovering her poise. “Thank you both, very much! And now that really is the end of visiting, my patients need their sleep.”

Chuckling, the two men allowed themselves to be chivvied out of the room, and Daisy let her put the baby back in her cradle. Nan waited until she was sure they were both fast asleep, then slipped out of the room, pausing only to bend and kiss little Margaret’s forehead. Despite her words to Nat, she knew perfectly well the baby would be certain to call her Aunt Giddygaddy - and she wouldn't have it any other way.


End file.
